What's the proper way to restore a somewhat rusty old revolver?  

After my wife and I moved into our 100 year old SF Bay Area house, we
discovered an old revolver hidden in the wall.  The gun appears to be
an 1858 New Army Remington revolver.  It has the original cylinder
(black powder chambers).  The wood handle appears to be a replacement
from the original, though it too appears to be very old and has about
a dozen notches cut into it.  The loading lever still moves, but the
hammer spring is broken.  The metal is rusted, and I'd like to make it
look a little better.

My question is this:  I'd like to keep it as a souvenir, but what do I
do with it?  My friends have suggested various treatments: (a) do
nothing; (b) soak it in some kind of oil to remove the loose rust; (c)
rub it clean with steel wool; (d) bring it to an old gun shop to have
cleaned.

What's the real deal?

If it would help I can email a photo of the gun.  Links/references to
authoritative sources most appreciated.

Thanks!

Dear jkido-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. What an
amazing find!

The handgun you are referring to was designed by Italian gunsmith Aldo
Uberti and was made for Remington by the company that bears his name,
A. Uberti, Srl. Remington didn?t actually introduce the New Model Army
.44 revolver until 1863. The ?New Model? was an improved version of
the earlier Remington-Beals and Remington Army revolvers of 1860, 1861
and 1862. The basic patent for these designs was issued in 1858 so
that?s how this particular model later became known as the "1858"
Remington New Model Army. Remington purchased about 115,000 of these
before the end of the Civil War so they were fairly plentiful.

UBERTI/REMINGTON
http://www.chuckhawks.com/uberti_new_army_syn.htm

Even in good condition without substantial provenance linking it to a
verifiable history the gun itself probably isn?t terribly valuable in
terms of a significantly profitable treasure (depending more or less
on the actual date of manufacture). R. L. Wilson?s guide for
collectors, published in 1998, listed the price of a New Model Army
from $700 to $2,500. The value may have gone up a bit by now but of
course you must consider that we?re mostly talking about collector
quality guns when we refer to the prices in this guide.

TEXAS RANGER DISPATCH
http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/8/Remingtons.htm

However, if you attempt to restore it on your own it could in fact
become virtually worthless unless you know what you are doing. DO NOT
rub or soak the weapon or try to manipulate the action. This dry
firing can horribly damage an old firearm beyond repair. Attempting to
remove parts from an old firearm can also result in damage and
occasionally removed parts will expand or damage threads and will not
fit back in the position from which they were removed.

Uberti firearms are still being sold today and there are many
reputable dealers who can point you to the right place to have this
process professionally done. I strongly recommend you contact one of
them and pursue some professional restoration options according to
their recommendations. There happen to be several dealers in your area
that have an expertise specifically in Uberti firearms.

UBERTI DEALER LOCATOR
http://www.uberti.com/dealer-locator/index.tpl

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



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Thanks very much for your assistance!

The previous answer is incorrect on a number of items.

The Remington "New Army" revolvers were manufactured under government
contract during the US Civil War.  Samuel Colt's revolvers are better
known of course and the reason Colt was so successful is he had some
basic patents that were hard to get around.  Remington purchased
rights to Beal's 1858 patent and that formed the basis for the
Remington revolvers.  In fact, early Remington-Beal revolvers are
stamped with Beal's name and patent date.  Later ones omit Beal's name
and just carry the patent date of Sept 14 1858.  Due to the patent
date on the barrel, they are known incorrectly as "Remington Model
1858s."  That designation is spurious as the correct model is "New
Army."  "New Army" is stamped as the 3rd line on the barrels.

Uberti didn't "design" the Remington revolver.  Uberti is an Italian
maker of modern replica revolvers and sells a replica of the Remington
New Army.  The company Uberti S.r.l. was founded in 1959 in Italy
which is 101 years after the introduction of the Remington-Beal
revolver.

Regards the original question, "restoring" a Remington New Army
revolver isn't particularly difficult.  Remington manufactured over
100,000 of the revolvers so parts exists.  Additionally, the revolver
was made long enough ago that no "exotic" technology existed so the
parts are pretty simple.  A qualified gunsmith specializing in older
revolvers should be able to restore the revolver to a reasonable
condition.  Since the "restored" revolver probably shouldn't be fired
due to it's age, a simple cosmetic restoration would be as far as it
would be wise to go.  My recommendation would be to not restore it at
all, the condition it is in is "honest" and it should probably be left
that way.

Remington New Army revolvers have serial numbers.  The full serial
number is on the bottom of the barrel under the loading lever, under
the hand grip at the bottom of the frame, and the last 4 numbers of
the serial are also on the back of the cylinder (stamped as two 2
digit numbers as there isn't room to stamp it together).  All three
serial numbers matching increases value.

Hope this helps. 
I have a Remington New Army and they're quite interesting historically.